Really loving the visual style, together with the animation, lighting and use of scale it implies a lot of detail and atmosphere. Also really appreciate a non-typical fantasy setting, without the whole human/dwarf/elf/orc thing going on. I’m going back to town at every opportunity to check up on how its coming together. Can I get a pipe like Jokell’s?

I’m definitely not looking for a refund, but that section has forced me to take a bit of a break from the game. I’d been rolling through things relatively smoothly, with only a few decently challenging encounters, when all of a sudden, that dungeon comes in and kicks me in the face. I got to that part with all the enemies at the top of the stairs, my co-op partner decided to Leroy Jenkins it, aggroing everything, and in the rush to stay alive, I dodge rolled off the ledge to my death…along with about 15,000 scoria that had been accumulated through just over 2 runthroughs of the dungeon…it was just demoralizing.

Really glad (?) to see that others are having problems with the Seat of the Matriarch. It’s hard for me to say how far we are through the game because there’s not so much information available, but it seems like the halfway point based on the hour counts that have been recorded.

I have staunchly played most Souls games alone, but I love the companion system and how Ashen is designed for it. Unfortunately, the game becomes horrible when the companion is gone, especially because you only have the one lantern. In that particular quest, which is a good 15-minute run up to the boss every time, my companion keeps falling off of ledges or simply disappearing when I’m not looking, and it’s really getting to me.

I might have to put this one on the back burner until I can get actual people to play with, I guess.

I think every Switch owner has at least one game they desperately want to be ported to the platform. Thanks to all of Austin’s talk and tweets regarding it, Ashen is definitely mine. Every alteration to the “souls” format this game seems to be making are something I’ve wished I could experience. I know the have no current Switch or even PS4 plans, so my fingers will just remain crossed.

I ran in to that same issue everyone else did in that one dungeon. I managed to get past it, but i did have to take a long break at one point.
Especially when I got to that one shrine midpoint, and learned that I couldn’t fast travel to or from it. I mean it made sense, but was stressful caring all the XP from like six failed runs rolled in to one.
Thankfully I made it through and the boss wasn’t even that difficult.

Every time I play this game and think “oh finally, an easier dark souls” I hit a point that just wrecks me. I still feel it’s easier than any other souls-like, and I’m just about to the last (I think?) area of the game, which is much much faster than other games of this genre I’ve played, but it definitely will remind me every once and a while how easy it is to die.

Also, this may be my favorite game of the year? There are some other things and I certainly haven’t played all the big games of the year, but from what I’ve played so far this is the game I’ve enjoyed the most this year.

I’m trying to take solace in hearing from a few different people that the actual boss at the end of the dungeon isn’t as difficult as the dungeon leading up to it, so I’m hoping that I can struggle through it this week, then just use the item that teleports you back to town once I finish it.

I just finished the first boss and first few sidequests and am loving the quality of life improvements and different outlook in terms of story that the game is bringing versus the Souls games. Quest logs, a map, character stories you can follow, and a positive outlook seem minor, but they really put a stamp on it. One major thing - people starting this game, Austin’s podcast comment of “do the main quest till you get the inventory chest, then move to sidequests” needs some caveats. I mainlined and skipped the first very easy quest that gives you estus flasks, and had to take down the first boss without them. So at least do that first.

Few complaints/comments I have so far:

I have an inventory full of weapons, but beyond big two-handers versus quick one-handers, there doesn’t seem to be much weapon variety. Or at least it doesn’t feel that way compared to Souls games where I can switch up my weapon/build and have a completely different experience Hopefully that opens up more later game with more customization, but early game it feels very restricting. Especially since XP costs for switching out talismans/artifacts seem steep compared to the early-game mobs that give you nothing.

I’m undecided on the AI companion. On the one hand, it fits more with the story and certain encounters seem a lot more fair with an extra person to pull aggro and help you. On the other, it does feel like cheesing the game to have an AI person tank damage or take out things for me. I’m still rolling with them just because it fits the story to have your town-mates come out with you and often you need to have one to do certain things, but I’m not sure if I’ll keep it on.

The first half, up to the second dungeon, was amazing. Loved the world and exploring and the story and characters. After that though it all just kind of falls off. The story stops being interesting, the levels become a lot more straightforward and frequently annoying, and the lack of variety in weapons really starts to sink in. The town finishes being built and there stops being anything to purchase or upgrade so i’m just walking around with hundreds of thousands of souls with nothing to spend them on. Also my storage filled up so I had to begin chucking away old weapons instead of being able to keep them all.

Then the game just ends. There’s no NG+, not even an epilogue since loading the game after beating it just sets you back before the final boss. The Children of Sissna mode is just the normal game but with half as much health and stamina.

Overall… it was fine. 12 hours of gameplay ago i’d have said it was amazing but unfortunately the back half let the good first impression down a lot.

Do folks have a rough hour count on this? I am seeing 15-25 bandied around. I’d like to make an hour count/time comparison as I’m travelling later in the month, so don’t want to pick this up and need to leave it later.

I think 20-25 with side quests. Not sure how you’d really do it without the side quests though. Below: possible spoilers.

I really liked it. Felt like I’m maybe on the opposite side of everyone here: it was most interesting starting at and then after the second dungeon (esp after discovering the pretty significant shortcut in the second dungeon). Felt kind of bland fantasy until it started committing to things, which, again felt like happens in the second dungeon. Like’s not perfect, but it felt strong. Liked the way it treated gods as kind of horrible, but still felt like it fell way more on the side of hope/community.

I just started this last night! I only got to the first wooded area and then spent a bunch of time exploring and fought some bandit-folk to get to grips with the combat. Or more accurately, Jokell valiantly cut his way through hordes of enemies while I hung around the edges of combat and occasionally got a hit in. He is… much more aggressive than I am. And much deadlier, apparently.

Finally beat the Seat of the Matriarch after a few days bashing my head at it. Would have liked to have noticed the rest spot just outside the front door sooner, but ah well. Overall I think it was a good change of pace, but that’s of course coming from someone who is Above Average at videogames, so I can get how much of a roadblock its been. It’s a real test of endurance.

More exciting town developments as we now have a second Hot Giant and someone had the bright idea to build some sort of connecting structure between (what I assume is) my house and Amara’s, so I’m very excited to see how that shakes out.